It was not going to be alright.

The dull gray walls of her hospital room felt like they were closing in on Indigo. She’d been stuck here for a day and a half or so. The only break from the monotony had been when she slept, when they had to do all those ‘tests’, and when she went to the bathroom. After getting her cleaned up of blood and into a fresh hospital gown, she’d been simply told to rest and regain her strength, which was certainly easier said than done.

Indigo’s whole body still ached like crazy, and the bandages were a bit uncomfortable. To make matters worse, the doctors gave her a weird look when she walked the way that was natural to her. Apparently, whatever new form she was walked upright, on the two back legs, and called the forelegs ‘arms’, ending in ‘hands’ meant for grasping things. So over the course of the last 24 hours, she’d had to figure that out on the fly, resulting in her falling more than once, and fumbling to grab her utensils when given food.

Worse still, when given food, she was horrified to find cooked flesh on the plate. The nurses took a step back as Indigo screamed at that. They seemed baffled at the notion that she didn’t want to eat another animal. One even asked if she’d never eaten meat before, to which she received a mildly perplexed look upon answering no. They tried to accommodate her, but she was approached with a bit of hesitance from then on. Not a day here, and it seemed she was already getting into trouble.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, while here, not a single pony of any kind had been sighted.

Part of her wanted to ask, but the doctors had been a bit too busy with… whatever it was they were doing. Now, she was waiting for them to return, the suspense being far too much for her. Being stuck here sounded like a nightmare. What if she never saw Lightning Dust again? What if she never saw her Mommy or Daddy again?

Worse still, what if the doctors couldn’t turn her back?

That thought had crossed her mind many times on the way here, but she’d been too scared to tell the adults. So, instead she kept silent, focusing more on staying awake than anything. Now that she was in a safe place recovering, however, this same doubt started to creep back up. Worries about being stuck as this weird creature invaded her mind, further compounded by the thought of her family not recognizing her, even if Indigo ever found them.

… When she found them. Nothing would be gained from doubting she would.

Nothing at all…

The door opened, and in walked Social Butterfly, Soft Sell, and her doctor, whom she couldn’t recall the name of.

“Hello Indigo,” Social said, the smile on her face doing little to hide her concern. “How are you feeling?”

“... I hate it here,” Indigo blurted out. “I just wanna get fixed up and go home.”

“Well, that’s what the doctor is here for,” Soft Sell told her. “He just got done with your tests, so they can start helping you.”

Upon hearing that, Indigo’s expression instantly brightened, turning to the doctor and waiting with bated breath.

“Right, well, I suppose I’ll get right to it then,” he said, opening a small portfolio. “Now, you said you found little Indigo Zap here in the forests behind your house, with lacerations and in great pain, correct?”

Soft Sell nodded. “That was only a few minutes before the storm started last night.”

“Right. And did she tell you anything about what she remembered?”

“Afraid not. She was pretty quiet for the whole ride.”

It was the doctor’s turn to nod, which got Indigo nervous. Should she have said something? She was pretty spacey yesterday, and still wasn’t feeling the best today. Maybe if she had spoken up, the doctors could have helped her quicker.

“Well, the test results came back, and it’s not pretty. There’s some external damage consistent with blunt force trauma. We also found some internal damage and bleeding consistent with lightning damage. We’re monitoring her heart rate very closely because of that.”

Indigo stiffened a little in her bed, remembering the last feeling before she fell unconscious, and awoke as this strange thing. Suddenly, it clicked, most of the pieces fitting perfectly together.

“I did get hit by lightning!” she exclaimed. “Right on my left wing!”

A collective silence enveloped the room, as the girl looked to her doctor with hopeful eyes. Doctors were smart, so maybe they knew something about lightning that she didn’t. Maybe there were lightning bolts out there that could turn ponies into other things, and that’s why she was like this.

Or maybe she was just fooling herself. But still, it was worth a shot, right?

“Wings, you say?” the doctor asked tentatively. “Indigo, do you think you could tell me what you remember from before you got hurt?”

The pegasus nodded. “Well… I was playing with this really nice filly Applejack on a farm in Ponyville. It was getting late, and there was a storm that was supposed to happen. She said I could stay there, but… my sister said I need to be more confident. So I tried to fly home on my own.”

She hesitated for a second, feeling the confusion being leveled at her words. Indigo had never been good at talking, and it didn’t help when others were staring at her. Oh, how she wished Lightning Dust were here right now. She’d know what to say.

‘No! Be confident, you dummy!’ she reminded herself. ‘If you don’t tell ‘em, they can’t help you get back to Mommy and Daddy!’

“I-I know it was a stupid idea, but I thought I could do it! But the winds were really strong, and while I was trying to fight them, I felt something hit me in the back. And it hurt a lot. I started falling, and… I don’t really remember what happened after. I just know I woke up as this weird… thing, and I don’t know where my family is. I don’t know how far I am from Ponyville or anything.”

“... Are you saying that this isn’t what you normally look like?” the doctor questioned, his eyebrows furrowing at her words.

Even still, Indigo nodded, despite her courage faltering. She had to be strong.

“I’m not… whatever you are,” she explained. “I’m a pegasus. A pony. And so are my Mommy and Daddy, and my sister Lightning Dust. We’re from Equestria.”

“Equestria, you say?”

“Uh huh. I was… kinda hoping my doctor would be a unicorn. They’ve got magic and stuff, so they could help me.”

“I’m so sorry sweetie, but we don’t have any unicorns working in this office.”

“Y-... You don’t?” she asked quietly, heart sinking at the news.

The doctor shook his head, offering a consoling smile. “Afraid none have asked to work here. Guess they find us humans a little scary.”

That got a giggle out of the filly, who couldn’t help but agree.

“Yeah, ‘hoomans’ are pretty weird looking,” she said, the first smile on her face since the conversation started. “But you can find a unicorn, right? I really want my wings back.”

“We’ll try our best, Indigo. And we’ll try to notify your family as well. Can you tell me your mommy and daddy’s names?”

“Daddy’s named Star Mapper, and Mommy is Maiden Voyage.”

The doctor nodded. “Thank you. We’ll do everything we can. But for now, is there anything you’d like that we can get you?”

She thought for only a moment, her sweet tooth winning out in the end.

“Could I get some more of that ‘Jell-O’ stuff?”

Once the adults had left the room and were a sufficient distance away, the girl was on Soft Sell’s mind to an extreme degree. Everything she said stuck with him, though not in a good way. Far from it in fact, all of the strange declarations making him wonder just what was going on in her head.

And from the look on the doctor’s face, he either felt the same, or had an answer.

“So, I didn’t mishear her, right, Dr. Goodvibes?” Soft asked. “She honestly said she’s a pony?”

“We’d both have to be hallucinating if that were the case,” Goodvibes answered. “Unfortunately, it seems like one of my main concerns was right. You remember how I said that her tests were consistent with lightning injuries?”

“Yeah?” questioned Social, holding her husband’s hand in worry.

“Well, those who’ve survived lightning injuries can sometimes suffer from cognitive issues. And alongside what you’ve just heard, there have been many.”

“Like?”

“Well… her motor skills are next to nonexistent. She’s been struggling to walk and to even grab things, many of the nurses have told me. A few hours before you showed up, I showed her a book, and she even struggled to do something as simple as turn the pages. It’s like she’s never used her hands before.”

Silence was the only answer Goodvibes received, as Soft Sell absorbed this information, an image forming in his mind with every word. He was no doctor, but the connections were clear to anyone, he’d assume. She remembered key names, such as family members, but it seemed to be a bit jumbled in her mind what they were supposed to be.

But if that were the case…

“So, what do we do from here?” Soft Sell asked. “If she thinks she’s a pony, do you want us to just play along?”

“I think that would be for the best,” explained Goodvibes. “LIke I said, we’re monitoring the condition of her heart very closely, and after getting confirmation she was struck by lightning, that’s going to continue. Keeping her calm and happy is probably our best option.”

“But we can’t keep lying to her forever, right?” Social asked, taking a tentative step forward. “We can’t keep a lie like that up. Eventually, she’s going to ask where her unicorn is, or why there aren’t any pegasi.”

For a moment, Dr. Goodvibes was silent, as if seriously contemplating her question. Not that Soft could blame him, what with his wife’s knack for asking the hard questions. When he didn’t come up with a response immediately, Soft chimed in once again, feeling like there was one piece of information both of them were forgetting:

“Maybe we don’t have to. She gave us names, after all.”

Both wife and doctor turned their gaze to Soft, as he ran a hand through his silver locks. “Star Mapper and Maiden Voyage, as well as a sister named Lightning Dust. Cognitive problems or not, it sounds to me like a lead worth following.”

Dr. Goodvibes brought a hand to his chin in contemplation. “I suppose so. We’d be looking for a Star Mapper that lives here in Baltimare, most likely. I’ll probably have to pull out the phone book for that one, on top of all the other things on my plate.”

“I’ll do it then.”

“I’m… not sure how I feel about asking a non-employee to call up a bunch of strangers out of the blue. You sure you’d be willing to?”

He nodded, not an ounce of hesitation in his head or his heart. “Indigo Zap is our responsibility, at least for now. If there’s anything I can do to help her, I’ll do it. No questions asked.”

“I see…” Goodvibes nodded. “Well, I suppose that could work. But if they ask, you’re calling on behalf of Baltimare Children’s Hospital.”

“Of course.”

And with the arrangement made, both he and his wife had a client to deal with in about an hour. So, for now, Soft and Social simply shared some goodbyes with the doctor, as well as saying one final farewell to Indigo herself.

On the way back to his Mustang, Social Butterfly was rather quiet, not a peep from her until they were already on the road. She seemed to be deep in contemplation, from what he could surmise, and finally, when they were at a stop light, she spoke up.

“So, we’re just going to pull out the phone book and call up anyone we can find named Star Mapper?” she questioned.

“That’s the long and short of it, yeah,” Soft told her. “Obviously, since we’re here in Baltimare, I’d like to start with any that live close by. But if we have to call one in Griffonstone, we have to call one in Griffonstone.”

The woman laughed. “Right, of course. I guess I just wanted to hear it from you again.”

“What, you doubted me?”

“No no, nothing like that. I just… guess it was a shock when you offered out of the blue. You’re not normally so forceful.”

“Well, I guess I feel for the girl. I know what it’s like having your mind mess with you.”

“... Sorry.”

A small sigh escaped Soft Sell’s lips. That was the first time in months he’d heard her apologize, at least like that.

“That’s not what I meant,” he told her, pushing down on the gas as soon as the light changed. “My point was just that we have something in common. I guess that’s making me a little protective of her.”

Social Butterfly nodded in affirmation. “I wish we didn’t have to work today. All that time, and we could be spending it looking for her family.”

“All the more reason for us to bring our A-games. With your people skills and my business knowhow, this deal is a shoe-in.”

Husband and wife shared a knowing grin, and sped down the road toward their humble little suburban neighborhood. While work came first, their minds wandered back to the hospital, and back to the promise made. It would be the first thing Soft Sell did upon getting home, they both knew it, and there could only be so many ‘Star Mappers’ out there for them to call.

Eventually, they would find Indigo’s parents. That much, he was sure of.

Author's Note

So, the first chapter is finished! Yay!

Now, I'm trying a few new things with the start of this chapter. First and foremost, I've gotten a proofreader, and it's really helped me to feel confident in this chapter's contents. Normally, I do run it by at least one person before posting, but having a new face to give me suggestions and critiques has honestly made this chapter even better than it could have been.

Second, I'm going to be trying something I've seen a few other stories do. I'm going to be using the Cutie Marks of characters to indicate whose perspective it might be in a specific scene or a specific part of the chapter. So for instance, Indigo-centric scenes or scenes from her eyes are marked by her Mark, while Soft Sell's scenes and thoughts were marked by his (even had his Cutie Mark made just so I could do this).

I don't know how well I'll be able to handle this system, but hey, it's worth a shot.

Gusto out!

(EDIT: So, I've changed this chapter's name to something else. I prefer the new name, I've finally settled on one I like.)